By MIKE MORRIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/12/05 Gwinnett County police Wednesday arrested a 22-year-old Buford man for allegedly stealing the jet found this week at Briscoe Field after passengers of the secret flight from Florida came forward.
Daniel Andrew Wolcott, 22, was charged with felony theft by receiving and five misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct, according to Gwinnett police spokesman Darren Moloney. A bond of $175,000 has been set for the state charges. Additional federal charges are expected to be filed against Wolcott.
Moloney said that while Wolcott has a commercial-rated pilot's license, he is not licensed to fly the Cessna Citation VII jet. Wolcott "wasn't qualified to fly this plane," Moloney said. "But apparently is a talented and gifted pilot."
The aircraft, which was reported stolen from the St. Augustine, Fla., airport, was found at Gwinnett's Briscoe Field on Monday afternoon by an airport employee.
"Investigators made contact with five individuals who came forward and gave statements of being on the plane when Wolcott flew it," Moloney said.
The passengers were apparently unaware that the plane had been stolen, said Moloney.
"They were just enjoying the ride," he said. None of the passengers were charged.
Moloney said that everything points to the theft being "just a joyride."
Wolcott regularly "hung out" at Briscoe Field and possibly worked part-time jobs there, Moloney said.
Pilot made night landing
Authorities believe the plane landed Sunday night while the airport was closed.
The pilot of a plane likely sent signals over a traffic advisory frequency, which automatically turn on the runway lights when the control tower is unmanned.
"Anybody from a Cessna two-seater pilot to a commercial jet pilot would know what that is," said Gwinnett airport manager Matt Smith Tuesday.
Shortly afterward, a Cessna Citation VII jet touched down at Briscoe. The pilot taxied and parked. Apparently, the pilot and any passengers slipped away from the airfield, leaving behind a stolen $7 million charter jet and a number of questions.
"This is such an odd occurrence, I wouldn't even want to speculate why someone would do this," Smith said.
So, how exactly does a thief make off with a plane?
It's not easy, but it's not impossible, either.
Smaller airports like Briscoe Field and St. Augustine (Fla.) Airport — which the Cessna left late Saturday or early Sunday — are operated differently than large commercial facilities, such as Harts- field-Jackson International.
The Briscoe tower is operational from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. When the tower is closed, though, planes are still allowed to take off and land. Hokey Sloan, who owns the Flying Machine restaurant at Briscoe with his wife, Joy, said that planes often take off and land after hours.
Further, flight plans are not required for all flights. The flight in question did not have a plan, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. In fact, plans are not submitted for most flights, Bergen said, such as pleasure trips on small planes in clear conditions.
With its identifying transponder off and flying at a relatively low altitude, a plane could have flown from St. Augustine to Lawrenceville without a flight plan and not attracted the attention of air traffic controllers. Michael Slingluff, president of the Aero Sport fixed-base operation in St. Augustine, said the plane's pilots told him they left it unlocked on the main ramp Saturday afternoon. The plane does not need a key to start.
"It is a complex airplane, and someone would have to be an experienced pilot to fly that type of aircraft," Bergen said.
The plane took off and likely flew under 18,000 feet, with the transponder off. Bergen said Tuesday air traffic system data did not reveal any evidence of the flight. It could have been an unidentified blip, but "you would not know who it was," she said.
Gwinnett police say the plane landed between 9 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday, roughly the hours the control tower at Briscoe was closed. The jet parked at Piedmont-Hawthorne fixed-base operation, which services planes and arranges accommodations for out-of-town pilots. It closes at 10 p.m. on weekends and opens at 6 a.m. It was Piedmont-Hawthorne employees who found the plane Monday.
Said Smith, "If nobody was at the business, you could park in front of it and walk out to the parking lot [without being spotted]."
Representatives of Pinnacle Air Jet Charter, which owns the plane, were cooperating with police but had no comment Tuesday.
A spokesman for the FBI said he was "concerned" about the incident.
"I would just encourage increased vigilance at the various airports and the companies that have these aircraft to ensure better security," FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett said. "I don't think it requires any systems changes or anything." -- Staff writers Ken Sugiura and John Ghirardini contributed to this report.
